September 2002
The great Nigerian feminist, Funmilayo Kuti, must have been beaming down with pride from a higher plane as she watched her countrywomen take over the huge international conglomerate, ChevronTexaco, in Nigeria this summer.
Without guns or the use of violence a band of Nigerian women took over a giant oil terminal that produces a million barrels of oil a day and brought production to a grinding halt. Executing a well-thought out political maneuver, about six hundred women, mostly between the ages of forty to ninety, spread out over the internationally owned oil facility and took seven hundred American, British, Canadian and Nigerian male workers hostage. Some of the women, who came from six surrounding villages in this oil-rich southeastern delta area, were carrying babies on their backs. Despite the wealth of the region, or maybe because of it, the villagers lack electricity, schools and even clean water. The once-abundant coastal fishing grounds are being polluted and farmlands degraded with industrial wastes by an oil industry that brings no benefit to the people.
In the past there have been numerous protests unfortunately, these protests have not only been seemingly ineffectual, but have led to violent reprisals by company hired thugs and government troops protecting the oil company’s interests.
Against this violent, intimidating background, the political actions of the women stood in sharp contrast. They managed to accomplish their actions without loss of life; although, one woman was beaten by a Chevron Texaco employee. The women’s only weapon was their threat of disrobing in front of the men to insult and scorn them with nakedness. All that insured the women’s safety was that the eyes of the world were briefly on them, shaming the Chevron Texaco executives into conceding to some of their demands. Lady Godiva aside, the novelty of this situation attracted world attention.
The courage, intelligence and organizational skills of the women went uncommented. Still, in the aftermath of their action, other women in the Delta region have stood tall, occupying oil concessions and making similar demands in behalf of their communities. These demands: for clean water, schools, electricity, roads, jobs and small fishing and poultry free trade (rather than foreign imports to feed the oil workers) have apparently been conceded by the multinationals - but only time will tell. Despite the staggering wealth of the multinationals, they fought bitterly against every request the women made, at one point demanding the women send male representatives to speak for them.
The women emphatically refused saying only the women themselves were qualified because only they understood the suffering they had to endure. If honored, the demands they fought for will benefit their communities and the whole region: including children and men as much as the women who risked their lives.
The situation of women in northern Nigeria is also attracting attention, but for very different reasons. Hampered by an intensifying religious climate dictating social and political thinking, the women in the north are constrained from taking action in their own behalf as the women in the south have.
Two years ago, twelve of Nigeria’s northern states adopted shari’a law, a Muslim religious system designed to punish crime. Unfortunately, what might be considered a “crime” under this formula might not be a voluntary act, or an act meant to hurt someone else. The most discriminatory application of these laws is imposed to exert gender and class control. For instance, in Pakistan, under Shari’a women who seek to report rape are often charged with adultery, sentenced to death by stoning, then put in prison for long periods. The men who commit the rapes usually escape any retribution.
The women of Nigeria are being pulled in opposite directions by powerful, opposing male forces. To the north Muslim and Christian men vie and compete to control the minds and hearts of the population. To the south it’s the multinationals that want to control land and labor. Both resort to brute force when necessary. In the middle of the country the banal and corrosive values of a consumer economy are hustling along.
Presently, in Nigeria, a young woman, Amina Lawal, is awaiting death by stoning. Her crime was to have a child out of wedlock. The father of her child, a handsome neighbor who she was planning to marry, at first acknowledged paternity, then denied it when supporters of Shari’a started bearing down. Finally, he abandoned her to bear the brunt of their ferocious misogyny. Clutching her baby girl in her arms, she appeared in court, small and vulnerable, surrounded by male onlookers.
When the verdict of death by stoning was announced she burst into sobs as the male viewers burst out in hosannas of praise, “God is great!” Amina has about a year to anticipate her death by stoning - that is, until her beautiful little girl is weaned. Such is the face of justice in northern Nigeria.
Still more recently, a pregnant woman and her partner have both been sentenced to death by stoning. Originally, the two had been sentenced to five years in prison. The woman’s father though, appealed that sentence as too lenient and asked for a sentence of death by stoning instead. The father of Fatima Usman was angered when he failed to force her to marry a man he had chosen for her. The father also sued Fatima’s partner, Ahmadu Ibrahim and, unsatisfied with the outcome, called on his peers to impose a death sentence that the court has now provided. Probably because of an international outcry over the nakedly discriminatory manner in which these sentences have been routinely imposed previously, or maybe because of the influence of
Fatima’s father, this rancid punishment had been applied to a couple now - rather than just the woman.
The case in Nigeria that recently caused such an international furor was that of Safiya Hussaini. Woman who claimed to have been raped by friends of her father, she was slated by the Shari’a judiciary to be buried in the ground up to her chest and stoned to death by a band of brave men. After a barrage of international outrage against this proposed execution, the charges against Safiya were dropped under the pretext that her “crime” had predated the adoption of Shari’a law.
In reality it was the public clamor and political embarrassment that made the executioners back down. From every side, protests were sent. Leaders of other countries who valued their women’s vote were compelled to carry their complaints to Nigerian officials. It made an impression, saved a life. Still, Shari’a stumbles along, hoping to impose its values. As Safiya said before her acquittal, “It’s because I’m poor, because I’m a woman, that this is happening to me. Others have committed worse crimes, but because they are men, and because they have influence in high places, they’re not punished.” (Quote from Boston Globe 8/23/02 Derrick Z. Jackson.)
Now the court of world opinion needs to speak up again to save Amina, Fatima and Ahmadu from a brutal injustice. Without people of conscience opposing and protesting such actions these three lives will surely be lost. International opinion does carry weight. But you need to make your voice heard. Call, write or fax the Nigerian Embassy to let your feelings be known:
Ambassador, JIBRIL MUHAMMAD AMINU
Nigerian Embassy
1333 18th Street NW
Washington DC 20036
Tel: 202-986-8400, Fax: 202-775-1385
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